Dusty Weighs In On the Yankees

by Dusty Writes

October 31, 2026

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The Yankees end of the season press conference recently was another waste of time as usual. Steinbrenner and Cashman once again make it obvious that no major changes in the Yankees front office personal or in their flawed philosophy will take place.  Ex-world champion manager Joe Maddon said it best when he said, " The game today would rather lose analytically than win based on feel."  Maddon is saying analytics departments would rather lose season after season by doing things their way instead of trying to do things differently. This perfectly describes the arrogance of the Yankees front office who never acknowledge their way of doing things will never win a world championship.

Not all teams operate as the Yankees do...

Isn't it amazing how the philosophy of the World Champion Brewers is completely different from the Yankees? For example, the Brewers were next to last in MLB in homers while the Yankees batters, as usual, were among the leaders in all of MLB ( 2nd highest).

The media consistently says how the best way to score runs is to hit homers and therefore batters try to put the ball in the air. However, the Brewers seem to have a completely different philosophy. According to Baseball Research, the Brewers batters hit the highest percentage of ground balls in MLB, at a 46.2 percent rate. The Yankees are only 27th best in this category at 39.2 percent.

The Yankees have the third highest fly ball rate among their batters at 28.9 percent. The Brewers have the lowest fly ball rate among their batters of any team at 22.8 percent.

The Yankees batters have the second highest pull rate at 34.2 percent, while the Brewers have the lowest pull rate in MLB at 26.4 percent.

The Yankees hit 223 homers this season, second in MLB. They scored 4.59 runs per game (8th highest in MLB). The Brewers hit far less homers (154), next to last in MLB, and yet averaged 5.14 runs per game (second highest in MLB). 

Whenever the media, fans, players and ex-players criticized the Yankees and offer solutions to the Yankees, the Yankees front office dismiss these criticisms, even though these criticisms are right on the money. The Yankees front office always wants to show they are the smartest people in the room and that their critics don't know what they are talking about and don't know much about baseball.

These critics consist of many Yankees fans who are very knowledgeable about baseball, in addition to other front office personnel from other organizations, the media (many who are knowledgeable, ex-players and current players).

The Yankees front office appears to be the only people who insist they have a World Championship caliber team season after season, when in reality, the Yankees need to make many big changes to win a World Series.

It doesn't matter how much money the Yankees spend on team payroll. They could spend the most of any team.  Unless the Yankees get a new GM, or completely change their philosophy, then the Yankees are not doing everything they can to win a World Series. The Yankees may want to win a World Series, but keeping the same GM after 17 consecutive years of not winning a world series tells us Steinbrenner is not all-in on winning a World Series.

Many fans and media said only if fans boycott the Yankees, don't go to their games, buy their merchandise, etc., which would decrease attendance, only then will Steinbrenner make the necessary changes Yankees fans have wanted for a long time. While a boycott sounds good in theory, there will always be enough fans to fill the stadium, buy the merchandise, etc.  Steinbrenner knows this so he is not forced to make any major changes.

The Yankees are selling their great history of 27 World Championships because they are no longer a special team in terms of winning World Championships. The Yankees are now just another team as far as winning world championships go. The Yankees have conditioned their fan base to accept lower standards and to give up any hope of winning a World Series any time soon. How many comments have there been by Yankees fans since Boone has been the manager, which Yankees fans said or have written that the Yankees will never win a World Series as long as Cashman is GM and Boone is manager? That appears to be the reality. More discouraging for Yankees fans is that Steinbrenner and Cashman will be in their positions for many more seasons as they are not even retirement age. This 17- year current state of not winning a World Series can last much longer.

Many fans and media have said the Yankees analytics department is flawed.  Where are the Yankees analytics people getting their information from? Are the Dodgers, Rays, Brewers getting their information from different sources than the Yankees? Are the Yankees getting correct information from their analytics department, but the Yankees don't know how to correctly evaluate the information given to them?  Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole have said there was a problem in how information was passed down to the players.

The Yankees from 2010-2026 in the postseason have some interesting stats. According to Statmuse, since 2010, the Yankees played 94 postseason games. They won 44 games and lost 50 for a .468 winning percentage. In these 94 games the Yankees batters have had 3,128 at bats and produced a dismal .223 batting average. They averaged 4.2 runs per game, but even this number is inflated as Yankees batters feasted on the lower seed playoff teams (participation trophy teams). The Yankees offense every season they make the playoffs since 2010 consistently get shutdown by their playoff opponents, except the lower seeded teams. This incredibly poor offensive production has been accomplished with many different players. The thing in common from 2010-2026 is that the Yankees players overwhelmingly fail to come through in the clutch in the postseason. 

The Yankees have not even for one season been able to put together a team of offensive players to come through in the clutch and win one World Series. That seems impossible to accomplish, especially with their payroll. 

To get the following information I used Baseball Reference, Statmuse and ESPN.com :

   From 2010-2026 the Yankees feasted on the (for the most part) non-elite playoff teams.  Against Cleveland, Minnesota, Kansas City, A's and Orioles, the Yankees won 26 games and lost only 8 for an astronomical .765 winning percentage. This winning percentage would equate to 124 wins in a 162 game season to illustrate how dominant the Yankees are against these teams.

   Against much more difficult opponents, the Yankees get completely dominated. Against the Tigers, Astros, Red Sox, Rays, Dodgers, Rangers, Blue Jays, the Yankees won only 18 games and lost an incredible 42 games for an amazingly low .300 winning percentage. This .300 winning percentage would translate between 48 and 49 wins in a 162-game season. This would be one of the worst teams in baseball history over 162 games.

The Yankees pitching for the most part should have been good enough to win at least one World Series during this span, but they had poor run support and poor fielding support.

The Yankees incredible lack of fundamentals and defensive misplays cancelled out many of the Yankees excellent pitching in the postseason. The 1-0 loss vs Tampa Bay in the postseason this season is just one of many examples. In these 94 playoff games the Yankees pitchers had an ERA of 3.71. They lost a 5-game series to Detroit in 2011 despite a 3.27 ERA  They lost a one-game playoff to Houston in a 3-0 loss. The Yankees lost a 7-game series to Houston in 2017 despite Yankees pitchers having a 2.73 ERA. In 2020 the Rays defeated the Yankees in the deciding Game 5 by a 2-1 score. This season, the Yankees lost to the Rays due mostly to lack of offense and poor fielding and fundamentals.

It is amazing how poor a job Cashman has done in getting a bang for his buck. This season, the Rays and Brewers spend about 1/2 to a 1/3 of the Yankees payroll (according to different sources). But it is not just this season. According to Statmuse, since 2008 (when the Rays became a good team) until currently, it is amazing how far superior the Rays organization is to the Yankees dollar for dollar. It is not even close. How much less per season have the Rays spent than the Yankees on team payroll since 2008? $100 million less per year?  $150 million? $200 million ?

And yet, the overall team records of these 2 teams since 2008 is incredibly surprising since the Yankees spend a ton more money every season than the Rays. According to Statmuse:

    Since 2008 the Yankees won 1,700 games, lost 1,275 for a .571 winning percentage. The Rays since 2008 have won 1,621 games, lost 1,356 for a .545 winning percentage. The Yankees over this span win on average only slightly more than 4 more games per season than the Rays. If there was a full season in 2020, based on the way the two teams played at that point, the small gap in wins per year between the 2 teams since 2008 may have been less than 4 wins per season.

   The Rays if you prorate the 2020 season to give them 100 wins that season, would average between 88-89 wins per season during these 19 seasons. The Yankees averaged 92 wins per season during this span, as I prorated the 2020 season for the Yankees. Basically the Yankees average 92 wins a season and the Rays average about 88-89 wins a season during this span. 

   Based on the astronomical differences in payroll, how are the Rays this competitive? How are the Yankees not much better than the Rays? During these 19 seasons the Yankees won the division 6 times. The Rays won the division 5 times. Believe it or not, the Rays won more pennants than the Yankees in this span. The Yankees won only 2 pennants while the Rays have won 3. Amazing! If the Yankees really did everything they could to win a World Series, they would have hired some of the Rays best front office personnel.

   The Yankees won 90 or more games 12 times in this span. The Rays won 90 or more games 10 times and were well on their way to another 90+ win season in 2020, which would have made it 11 times. With the tremendous financial advantage the Yankees have compared to the Rays, these stats shouldn't be this close.

Another flaw in the Yankees philosophy is the over reliance on home runs. Yankees batters consistently lead the league in homers and yet this has not produced a world championship in 17 years. It is not that home runs are a liability. It is that the Yankees get the wrong type of home run hitters. These batters don't change their approach no matter what the situation is. Alex Rodriguez and many other prominent baseball people have been saying this for a long time. Sometimes players need to have a two-strike approach at bat.

Having a player who is a home run hitter but who also has a high batting average, is a clutch hitter and is a situational hitter is great. But the Yankees seem to acquire these power hitters who for the most part get completely dominated by the better teams in the postseason--for 17 consecutive seasons!

A reporter recently made an interesting comment when he said maybe the Yankees are too focused on hitting home runs and rather than lead the league or close to leading the league in homers every season, maybe they should focus less on homers and design a team with for example, a team that is the 5th or 6th best in homers. What the reporter was basically saying was that you don't have to be an elite home run hitting team every season to win. The reporter is correct.

When the Yankees had their dynasty, this is their rank among all AL teams in terms of homers by their offense:

   In 1996, they ranked 12th best. In 1998 they ranked 4th best. In 1999 they ranked 8th best. In 2000 they ranked 6th best. Since 2010 the Yankees are by far the best home

run hitting team in MLB and yet have not won a World Series during this time. They did lead the league in homers in 2009, but that is the exception.

   Since 2010 the Yankees have led the league in homers in 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025. They also came in second place in 2019 (only 1 less than the Twins), in second place in 2020 (only 2 less than the White Sox) and in 2026 when they had only 3 less homers than the Astros. Had the Yankees played 162 games this season, they may have tied for first place with the Astros. In 2010 and 2021 the Yankees came in third place in homers. 

What conclusions can fans come to as far as the Yankees being the dominant home run hitting team by far since 2010 but consistently being dominated by postseason pitching?

Do the best home run hitting teams during the regular season win World Series? According to Baseball Reference, since 1995 (the Wild Card era),  4 teams out of 32 seasons led the AL in home runs to win the pennant: (1) Cleveland Indians (1995), Yankees (2009), Rangers (2023). Texas were tied for first in homers and the (2024) Yankees.

Only 2 of those teams won the World Series the 2009 Yankees and 2023 Rangers. 4 teams that led the league in homers( 12.5 percent) of the time won the pennant. 2 teams ( 6.25 percent ) of the time won the world series from AL teams.

In the NL, teams to win the pennant and leading the league in homers since 1995 are the 2008 and 2009 Phillies, the 2018, 2020,2024,2025 Dodgers. 6 times NL teams (18.75 percent)  have lead the NL in homers and won the pennant.

4 times (12.5 percent) of the time the NL team leading the league in homers won the world series (2008 Phillies, Dodgers 2020, 2024, 2025) .

Many analytics departments have greatly deemphasized batting average. The Brewers and Rays both led their leagues in batting average this season. The Yankees had the 26th highest batting average this season. Since 2017 AL teams that led the league in batting average and won the pennant were the 2017 Astros, 2018 Red Sox, 2019 Astros, 2021 Astros, 2023 Ranger, 2025 Blue Jays, 2026 Rays. 7 out of the last 10 AL pennant winners led the league in batting average. 

The NL teams to lead the league in batting average to win the pennant since 2017 were 2019 Washington Nationals (tied with other teams), the 2026 Brewers. The 2024 and 2025 Dodges had the third best batting average in the league. The 2021 Braves (5th best ) and the 2022 Phillies (4th best), were in the top 5.

Since 1995, the vast majority of the AL pennant winning teams ranked in the top 3 in batting average. 26 of 32 teams in the AL (1995-2026) (81 percent ) finished in the top 5 in batting average. In the NL 17 teams (53 percent) of the teams since 1995 have won the pennant while having a top 5 batting average.

Will the success of the Rays and Brewers and their great use of "small ball" and lower payrolls change the philosophy somewhat of the other owners in MLB?